Kali Uchis Talks Coachella, Tyler The Creator, Tour, and Relationship w/ Don Toliver | Interview

at such a young age you know trying to figure out just how to get money was like well my world revolved around so that I could try to make the move out here and I was like damn I just wish that you know like I understand now why uh some people's parents like take care of them to a certain age of stuff because I at some point it's like yeah you are making your strong your kids stronger but at the other point it's like I will never get those years back and like my whole life just revolved around survival like I feel like I was in survival mode for so long to the point where like even now as an adult I have to sometimes like you know I just start the last couple years started learning to like be able to spend money on myself big boys neighborhood beautiful day in the neighborhood ladies and gentlemen we've been waiting on this one man Kali uchis in the neighborhood welcome to the neighborhood thank you just found out that she's been living out here for a while yeah man she was like big I saw you my time and you know I just didn't want to say hello to you so you've been living out this way for for years now yeah I heard that and where did you move in from I moved from northern VA like right outside of DC okay damn I heard that now as far as when it comes to to music right there's some people that feel like there's a lot of introduction for you but as far as how much you've been putting in if people say overnight and I always say man it's been a long ass night you know yeah absolutely yeah yeah so had you always been into music with music and I asked others it was music like in your household I would say for me it was always like my Escape yeah like I always was that kid that just had her headphones on and I was just in my little world yeah um I played in jazz band I played saxophone I played piano I always been into writing I took like poetry competitions really seriously early on yeah how old were you when you started playing like sex probably like I want to say I was probably like 10. did that start in school yeah yeah and they don't have a lot of these programs anymore but I started like with trumpet in the same way too Cali for me music was a getaway yeah you know it was my escape and even growing up it was like eight of us in the household I never had my own room you know what I'm saying but I could put on headphones and just go yeah and then with it being you know I mean it's a real it's a real lifestyle you know you don't have money you don't have this but you have wish you have dreams and music had always been my getaway yeah you know what I'm saying like I could literally lay down with headphones at night during the day and just that's what it was for you I grew up in a similar situation like you know full house so I didn't have my room my room was like cousins aunts you know it was like my room was like the girls room my brother's room was the guy's room they had my uncles everybody it was like when you came to the United States you passed through our house when you were like getting on your feet like all the family members coming to United States um so it was very much so you had like the halfway house when people come in like hey we just gonna lay here but we grew up the same way we always had the boys room and the girls room yeah room full of beds yeah but Colombia was like that too I grew up in Colombia as well and it was very much like our house was like cousins Aunts Uncles you know hey man I didn't get my own room until I got in radio and moved out yeah yeah and I had a two-bedroom house Cali you couldn't a two-bedroom apartment I didn't know what to do with the second bedroom I would literally be like dude I got a two bedroom apartment you know what I'm saying I had a 35 inch television you couldn't tell me [ __ ] I was like man I I have made it so music was always kind of your getaway aside from being your getaway how do you start to create it you just you say you started writing or poetry was it early yeah I was always really into writing poetry and just I was just that little kid that I was in my own little world singing songs and you know in the corner like in my own imagination and coming up with stories and coming up with songs and um yeah I think I just always like from the beginning of when I learned to write I was writing songs and writing stories where was it just kind of not not just your Escape but were you the only one in your house that enjoyed music and wanted to create and where you were you writing it anybody else no nobody else in my family um is like artists in that sense right we're coming from a family that doesn't understand that because they understand what your so-called dreams were no they were really against it yeah and yeah yeah well I come from an immigrant family so like for them we hear work you know yes like it was all very much about they don't consider that like real work and then also it's just hard for them to wrap their you know they didn't have the opportunity to um go to you know my dad got like a fourth grade education in Colombia so it's like for them to be like why wouldn't you take advantage of the public systems in this country and the public school systems and um go to college they wanted me to go to college and do all that stuff and I always knew that college wasn't for me right um from a very young age like I didn't even try to go to college um essentially I feel like it's for people it's it's for some people and it's but it's not for everybody and for me I always felt for me I always felt that our school was like pretentious in a way like I always felt it wasn't for me I was like I want to actually be learning this [ __ ] on my own figuring out what works for me like I don't want anybody to tell me how to make music or how to create I'm just gonna like actually get out here and like start working what was the Battle we're telling you your family that because you got to think if you do say you know immigrant family it's almost like man we came here so you don't have to go through yeah exactly what we went that was there yeah that was the perspective but I um and it's and and also too Kelly that could be out of love too no yeah because with me I would also you know and you don't want to stunt your kids growth yeah but you know out of Love sometimes we do give people different or bad advice yeah you know what I'm saying I've always been a very strong believer that the only person who gets messages about your life is yourself yes ma'am nobody else is on your path so they're not gonna intuitively know what's the best thing for you to do like you're the only person that's gonna know that so I've always strongly believed that so I've always very much been able to tune out what everybody else is telling me I need to be doing and I was at an early age yeah and then also when it came to college like I just felt like college debt has like such a grip on and even at that time you know that it was like early on in the times where it was like very much like as soon as you graduate from high school you guys you know they wanted me to go to the Community College la la I'm like I went to that Community College probably for like 15 days all it made me want to do was smoke cigarettes and mess up your credit you know they'd be on campus I'm like man I'm like [ __ ] everybody out here smoking cigarettes and you went to the Community College yeah yeah because see I went to Community College as well and I just it wasn't for me I knew like I said like I didn't even apply for any colleges because I knew did you go for everybody else those 15 days it was more like I wanted to see if it was something that I would even be at least try yeah and I was just like no like I don't even think I made it past a week um I was like no this is absolutely not for me and um yeah were you still doing music you're not still doing but were you trying to like juggle everything at the same time like real life I was making music I was making music I had my own like laptop at that point and I got my own like um you know USB mic and I was making songs and I had a little camera I was making music videos so it was very much like from the ground up I did it all myself there's so many people that want to be in the business you know what I'm saying there's so many people like it's Gotta feel for one you do so you're doing something that you love you know what I'm saying so it's easier to do something when you love it and whatever comes with it is like okay I'll take those accolades I'll take this you're gunning for something but you enjoy what you're doing and while you're doing something that you enjoy there's also real life that come with it as well because there's no bill being paid you know what I'm saying so everything is kind of like this real struggle that I'm pretty sure has to happen correct for me my mindset was always I would rather be hungry and do what I to do and go hungry as long as I need to go hungry and get it done then to be like miserable doing something that I hate doing so for me it was it was never really like about money um and I never thought about like the industry or the business you know I figured all all of that out like later actually across their row when you get here yeah then I started realizing like oh [ __ ] like people do this a whole different way like people really develop themselves as artists and they have teams from the beginning and they you know like I really okay I really like build this [ __ ] from the bottom myself and after seeing like how other people did it I was like wow I wish that I'd gone about it a different way but you know what that that path you know what I'm saying the oven versus not and not even the microwave but that oven or that slow cooker and that's those things where it's like your tuition into the school of experience you know what I'm saying and the best way to learn is actually on hand and that's why you even see now when you say and and anybody that go to college College do your thing no I do your thing yeah but also you're seeing now where so many people are saying man it takes a lot of time to do something in college then get out have the debts on and so forth so sometimes if you know your dream put all that into yourself yeah I feel like college is for people like if you have a specific um thing that you want to do that's like you know it requires questions I don't want him to be like I learned this [ __ ] on Tick Tock oh yeah like no I just I definitely uphold like education I always tell my fans I get your education but if you're going to do something when it comes to Arts I personally don't I personally like see it as a scam right and that was for you for me yeah yeah so it's for you so when do you feel like you start and not making noise like like you've made it but how hard is it for people to actually hear you um I would say I mean I would say what I didn't have my first like commercial song Until de la Patia which was on my last record which is crazy though yeah you know what I'm saying well really that's that's my second album but it's like how I was telling you how I like Started From The Bottom it's like you know first I put out a a EP which a lot of my fans think of that as my first album because that was how my fans got introduced to me it's called porvida but it was completely free I never tried to figure that's what what eight years yeah that was that was like I think that was like 2015. yeah when I put that out um I believe I'm not exactly sure if I think so so that was my first like introduction really as like you know putting a real project together but it was like it was free it wasn't my debut whatever it took me another three years to get together my debut album which is 2018 car isolation where are you at during that time though because I was in L.A at that point but there's real life you know what I'm saying like like and I'm talking about like support where you living at are you on the free you know what I'm saying Friends couch yeah when I first came to La it was definitely very much that I mean even in VA like towards the end of my living in ba I was you know just like figuring it out moving around I don't really like have anywhere to go um I got kicked out of my house as a teenager so for me it was like I was just figuring it out figuring out what to do and staying at friend's house sleeping in the car doing whatever I needed to do when I came to La I had sold my car I had saved up enough money working at the grocery store that I felt like okay I have enough in my savings that I'm just gonna go to La that's where everybody wants to work with me that's where all the producers and whatever anybody who wants to work with me is reaching out to me for my list so I need to go there so I took the money that I had saved up I literally just left um I feel bad for people that worked at the grocery store with me because I did not give them any notice but I was like man but you know you know what they don't give you a two-week firing notice like I don't I can't recall with somebody to be like hey you know this show we're gonna fire you in two weeks yeah you know but you yeah but you had to step how my dramatic moment where I got where I you know got off the cashiers got off from behind the cashiers and I'm like I'm leaving yeah I just took that walk but what if you didn't you know what I'm saying like or when you say when is the right time and sometime the right time is now absolutely and how old are you when you leave the supermarket I don't remember exactly how old I was I know I was still in like the teen years I was definitely before 19. see that right there is scary absolutely because just being a young woman um there was a lot of people that definitely especially like as somewhere that I didn't have that support system of a home at that age um there was a lot of people that tried to take advantage of me yeah I can imagine um so it was really scary when I first came to La you know living in different places and being around I had to leave different places because I had to realize like it wasn't safe for me or like people had ulterior motives or you know and especially at that that time in your career everybody that's trying to reach out to you like they want your publishing or they want to sign you or they want they want something out of you it's a lot of snake work early on too and then then also you it's crazy because that's when you could possibly run into some of the worst characters absolutely you know because you you you're almost you know you're young and you want it and you could be believing you know what someone's telling you or this person know a little bit more this person can get me connected to this person yeah I was honestly I've never been a like oh I need to network and I need to been of the mindset that like my work is going to speak for itself and I don't I've never been like a who you know type of person like I've always felt like I love that you worked hard though yeah and I'm not even just talking about in the music when you was like yeah I saved up my money from the supermarket yeah you know what I'm saying like and to love what you're doing that much to leave because I've been in radio for years Cali and with me I've never had to leave for a radio job so anytime someone tells me like man I moved out here for such and such I'm like bro that right there already shows me how bad you want it yeah you know what I'm saying and how hard it would be for somebody to try to deny you what you're destined for absolutely I always say nobody could stand in the way of your destiny and that's the main reason why I was never like I got offered all types of stuff you know and I was just always like you know I'm gonna I'm gonna make it on my own regardless and people literally laughed at me like nobody believed in me I felt like especially at that point and something else like how you were saying about like saving money I felt like at that age because recently I typed into my my old Facebook messages and I was laughing so hard it was just off the Nostalgia like I was just looking like it was almost like reading a diary because I was seeing like when I would be writing my friends like this happened today or you know come over here meet me over here and it was unlocking so many memories for me but I was noticing so many of the messages something that made me kind of like sad was I was like so many of the messages was like me trying to get money or me talking about at such a young age you know trying to figure out just how to get money was like when my world revolved around so that I could try to make the move out here and I was like damn I just wish that you know like I understand now why uh some people's parents like take care of them to a certain age of stuff because at some point it's like yeah you are making a strong your kids stronger but at the other point it's like I will never get those years back and like my whole life just revolved around survival like I feel like I was in survival mode for so long to the point where like even now as an adult I have to sometimes like you know I just start the last couple years started learning to like be able to spend money on myself and like buy something nice for myself or like do little things for myself take vacation and you know what's crazy about that too Cali is that doesn't go away yeah yeah and it's almost like it's a gift and a curse because even with me it's like I I could get something but I'm very hesitant or I'm thinking like like for me I always keep kind of a a broke mentality for for for lack of a better word when you're in survival mode for so long you've feel like almost like and to keep it real with you too like I had a great mom so on and so forth so I saw that but I'm motivated also by fear you know what I'm saying I'm motivated by fear afraid of failure and not even just failure not afraid of failure I'm more like okay I know what it is to sleep outside with my entire family yeah I know what it is to live in a motel I know where to live is to live in a mission I know what it is to get food delivered to your house from the church and live in the church and all those kind of things everything that kind of built me to what I am today and how I hold and save and how I take care of people you know what I'm saying and how I you know I could be the Dream Maker because we didn't have a lot of that so it is where I'm like okay yeah you know I'm motivated by fear but it keeps me going you know what I'm saying it keeps me going and when you say that you you got thrown out the house right my son is 16. I couldn't imagine my son you know being being out there yeah you know and such a at such a young age you know and this world man this world eats you yeah you know what I'm saying like it's scary I really didn't when you're at that age you really think that you know everything and that nothing can touch you unless you're unstoppable right I didn't even it didn't even cross my mind like how much danger I was actually in right and when you look back at the Facebook messages too that had to be different looking back at that now and how vulnerable you were yeah it was funny like I was just I was doing everything I was selling clothes I was making mixtape covers for people I was making music videos for people I would be like oh you want this you want that like I was just so when you come to La like how did you get how did how did you and dog get together you and Snoop was that here no you know what he actually reached out to me while I lived in VA and I had at that point I had come to La for the first time on a trip actually someone uh brought me out here to shoot a music video because I was shooting music videos and um so I come out here to shoot a music video for someone and that's when I shot one of my first music videos was called what they say so I shot it out here and we chatted with the old school and like I direct all my videos so it was like so he's seen it I guess he like you know the style of it he liked the felt very like LA and he liked the cars and the girls and whatever and he loved my you know I'm rooted in like oldies and stuff I've always loved all these so that was where I started and so he reached out and he's like I love the music la la we should do something and so the next time that I came to La I think was when I made the move and that was when I went to he has like a he has like a big Warehouse I don't know if he still has it yeah the compound yeah yeah yeah that was where I went to and I went with a couple you should have lived in there you see how big is his face yeah you you could have been in there for like at least two three weeks before you knew you were in there there was a time that I lived in a place kind of similar to that but um but yeah he had like a table and it was like all the you know yeah table and like it was cool we made a couple songs and it was fun was that your first introduction to Snoop as far as like being in his presence yeah that was our first time meeting and he was just real cool Cali how many times did you think you were on you know what I'm saying you know how when you're like oh dude this is it honestly I never had that moment yeah I never had that moment damn yeah not even when like you get the I hope we just got nominated for a Grammy I mean I'm talking about even before that I remember to say that even now like oh I never really felt that feeling oh you got a whole different Mission yeah I just feel like yeah I guess because I didn't start in the first place for those type of reasons yeah those things is like they're beautiful things and to be proud of and everything like that but yeah they're not my like purpose you know what I mean yeah you'll pick them up as you go yeah but you're not in that direction to go and get them you know what I'm saying do you write all your own materials yeah why I feel honestly music is really personal to me and people have asked me to write music for them before and it just hasn't worked out for me because I'm like I can't give you my kids exactly like it's too personal and I feel the same way about like people have sent me records before with top lines on it like oh this so-and-so wrote the song for you there's another girl singing and I'm like I would never like I could I just could never do it I could never bring myself to do it because have you always been from poetry to writing your own stuff you that's always been absolutely so you write more from emotion all right yeah from my own experiences from my own like I just feel like it's so um my music is so literally catered to me because I write it so it's like my Melodies my words they're all for me that's what makes it more personal I feel like that's what makes my fans be able to connect with it like I don't think it would be the same if and the reason why I asked that question is and it's it's more specific why I ask right that I wish you roses I was like even when I was walking down I was like man she had to write that because it's beautiful anyway and there's some great songs that people put their heart into that they didn't write but I was also like if I if I understand the interpretation and just looking at the lyrics and listening to it as well that's a song that a lot of people couldn't write right it's like you know what I'm saying it's like there's one line where you say uh just know my love I gave you is forever yours to keep and that make everybody started to also think about their exes do you know what I'm saying and and it's like that when I say that's a song that I couldn't write it's not bitter you know what I'm saying but is that the interpretation like like okay we we were here we were good I don't wish you any ill will you know what I'm saying yeah I mean for me honestly when I wrote that song that song was more about like when I grew up I was always listening to a song called I wish you love by Joe watan and I always wanted to make a song like that because it's just such a song of pure you know releasing somebody with love is such a purity to it and I feel like it's not enough of that in the world right now and so that was the main reason why I wrote the song damn I hear that yeah because even with radio man our biggest segments are the cheating ones yeah sick cheating it's like it's very um that's very like popular very trendy and you know the drama I think it's all I think it's also different when somebody say man I wish you well you're like wait hold on wait hold on what do you mean by that no I just I wish you roses I wish you well you know yeah so talk talk to me about the new album as well does it feel like like you had to like you peeled off more layers in this because we are getting a position where we're starting to know you even more you know what I'm saying and there's bodies of music now do you feel like you have also in the last couple years you know grown as not just an artist but as a person oh yeah I feel like I'm different from when I was last week like I feel like I'm constantly about evolving and um even like how you said like even how you said like oh we're getting to know you more this is my third album it almost for me it's it's my second album in English because my last album was Spanish so it's like I feel like I have to work two times harder than someone that makes language and or music in one language because it's like that was my first my second album was my first album in Spanish so my next album is going to be my second album in Spanish but it's technically my fourth album right so is that by Design how you how you doing yeah I'm just gonna like English Spanish English Spanish but that's why I say like I feel like I have to work two times harder because it's like I'm writing all the music as well for the Spanish and so wait so not just the the the words yeah the Spanish album is gonna be 100 written by me I heard that damn and so you don't do like writing camps or other people that sit down I did um like a production Camp one time first in Milo which was my last album and like working with writers it was more so like it was more so like since I had never done a full album in Spanish it was more so like helping like they would help me with little stuff like oh this would sound let this make more sense like grammatically this or whatever but now that I got that out of the way I'm ready like for my second album I'm already like fully write it 100 myself that's crazy because we're also not in a business but we're also in a time where we delegate you know what I'm saying like oh you do this you do that you know and some people are afraid of the hard work yeah you know what I'm saying and not taken away from anyone else you know how they how they their formula is their form because everybody has their own Fortes like some people are vocalists like I've never considered myself a vocalist like I'm not and I'm not no Whitney Houston you know what I'm saying like I'm just more so like I've always just considered myself an artist um in the full scope of the word I'm just an artist and so um yeah I don't take it away from anyone who's like anyone who's a vocalist or a vocal performer that they prefer to just like show up and have their songs written for them like that's for you you know it's just not for me going from writing and poetry and just falling in love when do you find your voice because it's different to actually write but then you know there's some people that are great writers and the reason why they're great writers and give their songs sell their songs because they don't really sing right you know what I'm saying so how old were you when you when you found your voice um I was there a moment well I I do remember the first time that I made somebody cry singing I made one of my aunts cry when I was singing when I was probably like seven years old and I would sing for like the kids in the neighborhood I was seeing but I never thought like oh one day I'm gonna be a singer because I also went through like once I became a teenager I became super introverted and I was like didn't want anyone to look at me like I even grew my hair out like over my face so people wouldn't look at me if you were trying to make eye contact with me I would want to cry really I was like that like I was so introverted do you know where that came from um I was abused since I was little so I think it was just like I think it was just a lot of my trauma and just like not wanting to be looked at not wanting to be touched um I just became super it was it was probably a mix of that and then maybe just also just grow The Growing Pains growing into an adult I don't know but yeah I definitely went through a long period of time where I could not like make eye contact with people and I didn't I never wanted anyone to look at me hey Callie when you going through something like that that's got to feel alone too because now you know you hear so much now about you know mental health and wellness and you know you got social media that could be the gift and the curse but you also feel like you got places and there's more groups you know and we're just starting to see that even more recently yeah now there's more of a support system out there yeah for people that's going through stuff babe so was was a lot of that just used solo as a kid and as a teenager trying to yeah I never talked to anybody um they tried my school they tried to put me in like alternative school and they tried to make me like talk to counselors because they knew like something was up with me but um I never like really talked to anybody I probably talk to a counselor like a few times and so is that where in a lot of the Escape come to with music and writing yeah most definitely is that therapeutic for you yeah that's definitely my way of like healing my way of growing and um it's just that's how that's why I said like how I said like I was I would be willing to just even if I wasn't successful or had a little bit of success that I have right now if even if I didn't have that I would still be doing what I'm doing because this is for you first yeah it's for you first then we get to enjoy it do you get people that come up to you and say that your music helped them yeah ain't that crazy yeah yeah because you got to think like at some point music was your escape and you're you're helping somebody else Escape yeah yeah man it's a beautiful thing you're doing Coachella uh next month you want me to come out with you yeah you know what I'm saying how does that relationship start um we just really connected like as soon as I met him we had a really strong connection and I don't have I don't have that with a lot of people so when I do get that I value it yeah it had to be different because there I'm pretty sure a lot of people come into your life oh yeah people you know I meet people all the time and it's not it's not often that I make a connection with somebody that like that yeah and aside from the personal side do y'all like help each other with music um I want to say we help each other I want to say we help each other we'll play each other music and like later you know like what's our favorite songs or right is it competition no no what about when y'all work together do you slide them an invoice okay I don't pay I don't pay people or I don't charge people for features you don't if I work with you it's because I genuinely want to work with you and because I [ __ ] with your song whatever like I heard that yeah like when I got on side girls love money like I didn't ask for any money like I don't I don't like this yeah okay okay you sure you because you got to ask your shirt twice you sure right are you sure there was probably only like one time that I ever charged for a feature and it's because I really didn't know those people it was it was these two guys I didn't know them I was like all right whatever yeah yeah but everybody yeah guys the 28th and rent is due I was like okay I do like the song I was like okay I'll do it but for a fee right everybody else I'm like nah I just do it off of you know love friends being friends I usually work with people that I know in real life is it hard to be in a relationship with people who know your partner's name uh being in a public relationships it definitely has its moments where you're like oh my gosh I wish everybody would shut the [ __ ] up yeah hey dude and that's the same with me dude like when I years ago when I dated Beyonce that kind of stuff was just you know what I'm saying it was like you know I had my startups she had hers you know what I'm saying so you'll walk out on the red carpet they house Beyond you know like I never heard that before because I don't like you know I've seen that yeah I think I saw a picture of you yeah oh yeah we definitely try to keep our relationship as private as possible yeah so you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna stop asking about it I think I've asked enough questions I do have one more though right is this your first time at Coachella like no I did it one time before but your name being a bigger tank yeah yeah my guitarist she was like two it was bad for me it was bad for me she didn't show up the guitars didn't show up and so that just like put a whole different pressure on everybody and then the costumes were all wrong and then everything was just going wrong I had just fired my manager so it's like everything was just a mess she like didn't pass anything over right and everything was just a disaster song oh I'm excited to do it the right yeah and then also again the font is bigger the support is bigger you know what I'm saying and now you know exactly how you want to do you knew it then but you know I know how I wanted to do it didn't come how I wanted to do it but this time gonna come correct is it crazy when you see something like a Coachella or when you see a festival when you walk out on stage the people that are there and could cheer you on that little girl that was in in the bedroom with the headphones on yeah it's cute yeah I've seen the fans it's always cute do you see people in the audience yeah okay sometimes I try not to but why we're at a festival start putting your hair back down I just I just start looking like into the sky right because at a festival sometimes you can get distracted by all the faces and like if someone's really really hyped then you like to focus on those people but other people that can be like oh yeah that's the vibe killer and they would just like take you out of your Zone like yeah amen do you also when you when when you get out on stage and you do you you see the people you know you vibing but do you also get a sense where you can't wait till it's over or does the time pass fast I have had that situation before in the past because my music it's not at like I have more Up Tempo Music now but I like I told you I started with oldies and so it's very like chill melodic yeah Vibe whatever so sometimes if I would get booked on festivals that it was like the person right before me was like ah like raising going up and then I come on and then people's like hey how's everybody doing yeah yeah it has to be the right and that's why I learned how to basically like mix my set in a way where it's like I know that this is like this is a festival set like you know I have to keep the energy up to a certain level I want to keep people engaged I learned a little bit more about like doing festivals do you get nervous no I don't get nervous you have any rituals before you go out on stage um I wouldn't say I have those either hell what about recording rituals do you have anything that you go to or you I got to record in the dark I gotta have a candle I do prefer for the light to be lower so I can feel more comfortable I've never really like bright light do you stay around for Coachella like say for instance do you get there early and do you stay or do you just kind of hit it and quit it I'm leaving yeah yeah you know why I figured you would I figured you wouldn't stay around for that yeah I might this time I might stay for Frank Ocean right up in Bjork um but I mean it really just depends usually when I do something I leave right after like if I'm doing award show I'll get my word and leave if I do a festival I'll do my show and leave that's just how so you're not a part of this so-called machine either though you know some people just love being there and yeah it's like how I told you I never like even when I started I've never been that person like oh I need to be in the mix like I never felt that way you know do you go out it has to be like somebody's birthday or you know it has to be something important to celebrate when's your birthday my birthday is July 17th okay and what sign are you that's cancer oh Lord cancer women are different we're gonna evap right no no no no you know what I've seen a study and they said that people's least favorite science is Gemini and cancer yeah Gemini's get a bad rap for sure beautiful Cancer sign I think that I think the bad rap comes from cancer men cancer men yeah that's what I've heard I have never dealt with cancer man but like I love my brother miles but he's a cancer yeah I heard the cancer man I did it for cold but yeah women were like the best what you doing for your birthday I don't know probably going on a trip no I love to be somewhere else on my birthday and on like New Year's and stuff like you wanted to go with you she was like big I don't know where you playing because I really don't want you I really don't want you there like I don't I don't want to come out and you you be there y'all will be with me in spirit you know thank you I will take it oh nobody wanted to go with you anyway right [Applause] so will you have a quiet birthday um it's it's intimate I never I don't I don't like celebrating with strangers like that's why I've never been into like club culture um I don't really understand the point of like being around a bunch of people I don't know like I don't know amen yeah quick so I don't really like that type of [ __ ] I like to be like I like genuine connections I like to be around people that like I really [ __ ] with and you know we you know um yeah so it's small when I celebrate it's definitely like small just like my inner circle yeah that's exactly why you said we can't be there I understood that yeah yeah I'm sure you guys are great people yeah yeah yeah some of us are okay okay not everybody we'll need every company you know and so now when we fast forward and we do see the accolades right how does your family feel about that you know do they know you famous um I don't know I'm not sure like I'm not too sure yeah I don't talk to most of them I only talk to like a few of my family members oh I heard that I heard that yeah well that that's less tickets for the festival when I go out like people still invited so you know where I'm going to whatever if they want to come for sure yeah but you and and also man like we have a definition of what certain things are supposed to be and sometimes it's not that you know what I'm saying sometimes it's just like not that and sometimes you gotta learn how to exist yeah yeah I don't think I don't think that it's necessary like if people are you know um um if people are like essentially like not good for your mental health or your life like I don't think that it's necessary you've got to protect yourself I want to make my own family that's like one of my biggest goals in life I really don't like kids happy family do you know a number of how many ones yeah well done don't tell me no trust me oh okay okay I was just wondering so so two kids I heard that boy and a girl ideally I feel like that's the dream but you know you never know what happens really though do you feel like you got so much work to do first no I feel like I could have kids soon I heard that do you want to tell us anything no I'm not this is a radio war war going on yeah no no no if you wanted to say it believe that no yeah I definitely believe in like uh like I want a traditional family for myself so I definitely want to like get engaged get married first and then I'll talk about it do you play guitar I don't play guitar I actually tried I got a guitar one time and when I was little someone gave it to me the gift and um because I really wanted to learn and my friends sat on it and so I never got one again oh man I was on the bed and she sat on it but I saw it no no no she wasn't she was a smart girl but it was on the bed and we were all he had she forgot I was on the bed and she just leaves do you still talk with her now um every now and then okay she finally think you don't really F-word it because she broke your guitar hey dude she probably like dude she telling that good to her story again like she wasn't even that good right I was just starting to learn like who knows what would have happened like I know man somewhere Jesse Reyes is listening yeah yeah man what's your relationship with Tyler the Creator um I would say he's definitely wanted like how I was saying there's so many people that they have ulterior motives when you're a new artist he's one of the people that was in my life just off peer intentions like never tried to talk to me about signing me never tried to talk to me about publishing never try to talk to me about just only had like genuine advice for me wanted to work looked out for me you know um gave me opportunities and never expected anything from me yeah man Tyler's a very he's a great individual he is yeah he's a pure Soul yeah he is man and I think that's why he continues to win like absolutely daughter well I love Tyler anyway but my daughter really loves him and there's a different not just the music like my daughter is also one that connect for me she connect my soul you know what I'm saying and I remember one time we were at this this get-together and Tyler was there and I caught him like talking to my daughter and the conversation was you could do anything you want to do and you can get on this mountain like you know what I'm saying I'm like oh my God bro you know what I'm saying then you listen to some of the music too you know what I'm saying but not but dude is a extremely great human being and you got a great person you got to think too man like you probably got in your head too Cali like some of the conversations when you were just coming up that you was like okay I'm not gonna mess with this person I'm not gonna mess with that person because and back to Jesse Reyes I remember her song gatekeeper that gatekeeper song I was like oh she you know what I'm saying she knows and people talk to you different when they think you you're female are you by yourself or you want something so bad no I think there was definitely a lot of people that they probably assumed that they would never have to see me again and they're having to see me in certain spaces so many years later and me knowing what I know about them knowing that they're you know pieces and [ __ ] yeah like there was a couple people that apologized to me actually oh really though what does that feel like when they apologized [Music] um if I might it did feel regretful like I'm not sure that it was really like genuine but I think it was definitely regretful but in the sense of like they know like I would never sit here and do tell alls on anybody because like that's just not the type of person I am yeah so um I don't think that they were afraid that I was gonna say anything about them but um they know though hopefully they learned their lessons hopefully they're better people now I mean what about your relationship with scissor and scissors yes she's another great person just always shows love to me always um you know same thing she got on for my heart she never asked for anything she came to the music video she worked hard we went through the night shooting that she never asked for anything so for me it's like that's I feel like someone I could consider like a real friend is it tour going on right now or is it kind of spots or what's happening with you me oh I'm going to Latin America next Tuesday and how long you over there 10 days come back then we do coach I start my North American tournament is it you down for the what for the year I'm not gonna do any more touring except for maybe this one other thing but it's not confirmed yet and that's by choice yeah I don't like that's a beautiful Choice yeah I don't like tutorial I heard that why um kind of similar to the stuff we were talking about earlier like I just for me it's like I just feel like I don't ever feel like I need to do anything that I don't want to do right that's beautiful and I don't feel like I'm my best self when I'm on the road for too long so even my North American tour is only like four weeks like I told them like don't have me out there longer than four and a half weeks so I'm not gonna do it how do you learn that because usually early on I mean what however long you've been in the business yeah however young you are yeah those are like old soul decisions and when I say old soul is like I can't do all that yeah I gotta protect my energy you know what I'm saying I learned from mistakes as well because when I first came out um you know I had people around me that didn't have interest and they were just trying to like exploit me and make as much money as they cut off of me and I definitely like did some I feel like I did more I I exerted myself more than I needed to and I ended up having like traumatic experiences on the road because if things aren't set up the right way or you're out there with the wrong people it can just be like the worst experience ever so um now like my last tour like the one that I did with Tyler it was so comfortable and I was like you know obviously a different level of touring but when I first started it was like you know I was I was touring for a while since I didn't even have a project out and those are probably some of the the most and like when I say tuition to the school of experience kind of thing those are probably like the sharing the rooms everyone's like doing the makeup by myself in the car not even having a green room sitting and a table by the side of the stage waiting you know yeah just a lot of horrible experiences and um beyond that like just not even I wasn't actually I was actually going through something really hard for myself um I had actually just um gone through like two different very traumatic experiences and then I was thrown on the road and so I actually wasn't prepared to do that mentally and so um because you know it's a lot like meeting so many different people and then being expected to do like meet and greets cash grabs like oh just give us 50 in cash you can meet Kelly ugi's like it's like yeah he's doing that to me like having to meet like 50 60 people a night after a show like exhausted and I just had to realize like well like I had to realize like this is not this is not what I want to be and you know what I call that too Cali is I call that sending your representative you know what I'm saying it's like as as much as you're going through you still got to make this person's moment you know what I'm saying you got to be nice to this person and not knowing that you could either be crying or dying on the inside yeah being exhausted being overworked being exploited being you know all the things I was going did you ever want to just give it up absolutely it was multiple times I was like I can still you know um make music and make art and do what I want to do and do it privately I don't need to share it with the world I don't need to be a public figure um but you know I'm here did people just you know how sometimes people could discourage you to where you're like I don't even want to be a part of this if these are the people that I got to deal with you know yeah no yeah the the industry is it's a really rough Place yeah and um for me like how I told you like I started from the ground up by myself I never thought about the industry or like I'm about to become a part of this music industry like I never looked at the business aspects I always just looked at it as like you know this is my life this is who I am I am an artist when I look at the things I love to do they all Encompass you know being an artist I love making clothes doing photo shoots making things making music making music videos that's all things I love to do as a kid so it's like it only made sense for me to be an artist because I was an artist I never thought about like the business side of it like ever and so once the business side got involved and like becoming a part of the music industry got involved um I definitely learned that I feel like we can all do it in our own way and I learned that you know certain things are not for me and um and that's okay I don't consider myself somebody who has the motives to become like a pop star or like be a pop star and so I don't hold myself to that standard of like I feel like what people what other artists might hold themselves to of like you know feeling like I have to do I have to be like non-stop you know like burn my I feel like they burn themselves out doing it hey man you gonna Sade yourself and by by that like you for some reason you remind me of Sade and the reason why I say and when I say You're Gonna Sade yourself you probably gonna get to a point where we're probably gonna see you like only every five or ten years that's the goal yeah yeah for sure so so don't saturate the game with absolutely with caught with ex you know overextending yourself 10 days in in Latin America where are you going we're going to Chile Argentina Colombia Brazil have you been to those places before everywhere except for chile and Brazil oh my God man I went to Brazil did you love it oh I loved it over there man I heard it's a lot like Colombia so I'm excited I went to go see a UFC fight over there UFC in Brazil I was like oh my God man you know I wanted to take my wife over there with me but for some reason she uh ducked out on me she didn't want to go ah to Brazil I was like man you sending me to the booty Capital what are you doing you know but now you and is is it crazy that you get a chance to experience these places on your talent yeah I'm really excited to go because Brazil is like one of my greatest fan bases they're so like they're the they're just one of the greatest fans in the world for everybody I feel like so I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun to be able to finally perform music for them what you doing team you're doing four different locations in 10 days oh so you don't even have like really unpacking like and really go CeCe is Lollapalooza it's Lollapalooza yeah so that's what it is so it's like it's like two weekends essentially all right oh so so do you travel it back and forth so okay no all right I think we end in I believe we end in Colombia and then I and then I come back here then you say you do your North American tour yeah and when is your North American tour not not when it began when does it stop against me ah I think it's in it's in May oh my Lord yeah it starts in May yeah I believe it starts in May maybe like the last days of April and then it's only like four and a half weeks or something like that and so let's just say bye let's say April let's say worst case scenario it's over by July August then you're done touring for the year unless you want to go do like a spot or something like that I'm I'm done talking for the year unless there's this other toy that might be in the works it will be a co-headline tour with somebody I heard that so what are you not gonna say it okay write it down I'll say it write it down that way you won't break no contracts it's in the works but I might I might do that I might not so I'm cool with sitting all the rest of the year as well so what do you do when you so-called sit out for the rest of the year well I am also getting ready to drop my next album it's going to be the Latin one so are you writing and I'm done with that one okay yeah I'm finished so I just have to shoot music videos and content and the artwork and stuff I have to do that and then I'm actually also working on the album that comes after that so and this is all you yeah and so when you say you're not going to tour that doesn't mean you're off really essentially yeah it does yeah so what will you do will you like Taekwondo classes like like what do you say we're not always the cooking shows yeah right I'll be what you know writing writing my next album getting yourself together no yeah getting myself together I grow a little vegetables in my garden oh that's dope do you cook but yeah I cook I cook pretty much every day I have bunny rabbits I have a cat I ain't cooking on the rabbits right no no yeah I just want you I wasn't asking for me it's just that sometimes you know there's some ignorant people out there yeah we don't want people to yeah because he rolled on he was like oh I cook I have bunnies exactly so if we were to come to your house which I know we're not invited right if we were to come to your house she like me you know what I'm saying like like me we coming to your house no you're not what would be the meal if you were to cook um it depends which I like to eat I make food I make like mostly like what you know the stuff that my boyfriend likes to eat um with fried chicken rolls and like I'm not gonna get into this you don't eat green bean casserole do you no no okay cool because he does it's good she brought that [ __ ] up here one day and made it had to eat it man yeah it was beautiful I enjoyed it thank you I can't even front I can't even front so so you could I could cook uh yeah I could cook a large array of things I would like to say so it just depends on which I learn and you have a vegetable garden at your crib yeah I have a vegetable garden that you tend to yes I heard that that's nice it's really therapeutic yeah do you smoke uh I'm actually sober 10 months but I'm excited to stay smoking again right my birthday I would like like my first one really at home I'm waiting for I'm waiting for like something really big to celebrate and then I'll do so you know that if if you're not smoking it's not indefinite you know you coming back I'm a smoke again but I'm not like you know when I was growing up I used to smoke every single day so I just had to show myself like I'm not dependent on anything what made you put it down was it that yeah it was a challenge to you it was just me like I've never spent money on weed it's always just been around me um same with like liquor so for me it was just like let me show myself that I'm strong enough to be like nah I'm good did you know that you look up and it'd be 10 months later no honestly went by really fast remember really fast do you drink I don't drink I'm 10 months completely oh okay yeah yeah I heard and I'm around people you know my boyfriend does is in like nightlife you know he does a lot of shows clubs and stuff so I'm around people that drink all the time and um I definitely am used to like now getting those weird looks when people try to pass me a drink and I'm like no I'm good they're like damn they're like you're not in the business yeah yeah that's crazy though but you know what unless you really do it on your birthday you probably may say you know what let me make it a calendar year now right yeah yeah might as well yeah I want to go full year I'm almost a full year and um after that we'll see once it's something wrong so yeah by the time your birthday comes you are a four calendar year I will be a full year by then yeah like over a year yeah watch me read like oh man she got so drunk she passed out I don't think I'm gonna drink again unless it's like you know I might have like a glass of champagne glass of roses but um actual like hard liquor I think it's like a hard no was it a challenge for you or did you find yourself doing it too much like I'm just gonna stop because I don't need it or did you feel like I don't need to stop no when it came to drinking I actually haven't I actually didn't um I pretty much got alcohol poisoning when I was like 17 and after that my body like repelled it when I would try to drink I would literally like just immediately it would come up so it was not it was not something that I wanted to do anymore and um I essentially how I said like I just felt like I was doing it because it was around me people were passing it to me right in the place to be type of stuff too and it comes with the vibe yeah and I just seen too much negative things you know people getting violent people getting you know turning into people that they're not off of liquor and it just it just turned me off of liquor honestly and that's since I was young you know like being around you know Latin culture is very much like we're always partying always like you know getting [ __ ] up so um seeing that from a young age it always just kind of like turned me off from it so I stopped being into we haven't stood side by side how tall are you I think I'm five six five six do you feel like growing that drinking also stunts your growth and the reason why I'm asking how tall are you Louie five four and a half yeah and he drinks a lot so do you think that if he didn't drink as much that he probably would have been five eight five nine possibly who know I mean who really knows can you write a song about it yeah yeah right in my Anthem you know what I'm saying cause you got you we got I don't want no short short man people got no reason yeah right my short people hate yeah or or Turner to change the narrative man we all want to be short she hires short people so I think we're good right oh yeah you got little homies out there that's little but they are some girls too oh yeah little ladies too yeah you know what I'm saying you're probably not as tall as well I know everybody else and then we're gonna do like squid games the youngest one we're gonna the shortest one no no that's a good idea I'm alone all right do you watch TV yeah they do do you watch scripted TV or do you watch like First 48 and stuff like that uh well I grew up off of um you know like I love New York I really love those little toxic reality shows [Music] [Applause] but you know it's funny to watch it's funny yeah we live we love like the um like all that all that like Married at First Sight I'm like people just you know people just taking a leap and like marrying complete strangers yeah it's 90 Day Fiance I loved him man yeah yeah oh man he's a mess yeah we need to find a new good show but it's always nice to just like on a Sunday or like so when you get a little bit of time check in with the show it's just did you watch the Chris Rock uh stand up I didn't watch it yeah it's crazy it's good yeah I want you when you get a chance I want you to watch it okay and then I want you to turn in a five-page report I saw it I saw it on the little Netflix screen but I didn't but you're so busy doing you though right yeah it's only every once in a while that we really like check in we we um we will spend our weekends together and but usually by the end of the day we're so tired after like eating dinner we all live together yeah oh that's dope that's why you don't want to set the house either you know what I'm saying that's dope I live with my wife yeah yeah you didn't know that did you no you know I think that's the way to be yeah yeah I live with my wife and I have two kids man so I live with him as well you know what I'm saying and my daughter my son's very talented my daughter she writes as well you know what I'm saying so she'll write her own verse for the album that y'all do right right so you don't have to worry about that what do you think about like what you writing so much but you do small collabs you know what I'm saying it's not like you you always full of something how do you pick who you want to collab with it's really just about you know if I really like the song and I really want to be a part of it and you know and you know I think the artist is cool I'll jump on it who's on your wish list honestly I don't have like collaborations that I want to do anymore yeah damn you are a very simple person like what do I love to eat I'm always like like rice beans or egg on top like I'm very simple I heard that you know it was a pleasure meeting you nice to meet you too I've been like real talk dude I really enjoyed your energy thank you and God willing I hope that you'll get a chance to come back and hang out thank you I'm sure I will yeah all righty but and once again if you see us at Coachella say hi to us yeah okay because we're going to be there was like a main nickname that I used to get caught when I was little so I just took the RL kaliuchi's gotcha did you have any other so-called names before you arrived at kaliuchi's uh no that was always no I always just I just wanted the names to be very unique I wanted to make sure that there was no one else that had that name so I looked up is there anyone else named Cali there's no one um uchis obviously it wasn't a name that anyone was using so um that was how I determined to use it that there was there's no way that anyone could how long have you been Kali uchis since I started since I first started putting music out yeah okay so you knew what your destiny was I have thought about changing my name before from from kaliuchi's yeah I have thought about changing not now that you you know knowing there's equity in the name I have thought about changing my name before absolutely yeah even now yeah yeah yeah yeah do you have the name you know I just live like a new beginning like I just it just feels like it has so much baggage today at this point I love that Louie's about to have his first baby yep he's about to have a son thank you thank you all right if you don't change your name and you know the name is it a name that Louie could name him yeah maybe I'll just slip you a little paper yeah yeah I always have little name ideas because at the moment what is it like Boston baked bean you got one Chargers uh Chargers is another name Raiders he wanted his girl want to name it Loretta Raiders or something what's the name if you go to change it um share that with us because maybe when they actually do it you know then it could be a surprise you had to be a surprise for everybody else we'll hold it okay no no don't do that oh she wasn't gonna tell us anyway so that way people be like you know yeah do me a favor would you tell us when when everything goes off would you share it with us and let us hold it [Music] yeah maybe I don't know what the future holds yeah me neither I wish I did yeah right I feel like Charlemagne ain't never did this though Kali uchis thank you for coming into the neighborhood it was our pleasure thank you for your energy and thank you for your time believe that big boys neighborhood [Music] come on

Channel: BigBoyTV

Views: 362,859

Keywords: kali uchis, kali uchis interview, kali uchis full interiew, kali uchis tour, kali uchis album, kali uchis don toliver, don toliver, kali uchis telepatia, kali uchis i wish you roses, kali uchis music video, telepatia, i wish you roses, faster, red moon in venus, kali uchis big boy, big boy, big boy’s neighborhood, bigboytv, kali uchis tyler, tyler the creator, don toliver kali uchis, kali uchis music, kali uchis live, kali uchis moonlight, interview, full interview, tour, music

Id: 14Mm0l0H4B4

Length: 59min 51sec (3591 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 10 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/greenhairangels]

🙏🏻

[u/DavidXO909]

Time stamp for vid?

[u/AMeza222]

Yes I saw that too! She also said she could be going to tour with someone else later this n the year . Could be like a cmiygl tour like last year.

[u/thegreatmulie7]

PLEASE😭